Therapy Matters

Yesterday President Obama took a political risk in publicly supporting gay marriage. While the issue is being framed as a political one, in fact, there are larger social implications to legalizing gay marriage. Empirical research suggests that extending the rights of marriage to single-sex couples is likely to lead to stronger and more psychologically healthy families.

As men spend more time looking at pornography on the Internet, many are starting to report increase difficulty in being turned on by their actual sexual partners. A growing body of evidence suggests a detrimental feedback loop can emerge between the brain and the penis when men rely too heavily on pornographic images to masturbate.

A recent op-ed piece appearing in the Sunday New York Times has touched a nerve with quite a number of therapists. The author of the piece argues that long-term therapy is often “ineffective” and those who practice it are little more than passive head-nodders, who simply answer questions with more questions.

Today across American college campuses, LGBT students will be celebrating National Coming Out Day. While the LGBT community has much to celebrate this year, today's festivities will be tempered as we mourn those young men and women who take their lives each year because their sexual orientation causes them to be the target of peer bullying.

College can be an exciting time for students as they embark on their college careers. However, even the most well-adjusted student can experience periods of uncertainty and disillusionment in the course of their college career. Sure, being away from home for the first time can be liberating, but it can also be anxiety provoking.

We are in the midst of world's largest debt crisis, in no small part because of ideological differences between Republicans and Democrats. Why is it our leaders are unable (or perhaps unwilling) to put aside partisanship in order to lead? The answer may have more to do with human psychology than actual politics.

When was the last time you forgot something and didn't turn to Google, or some similar search engine, to find the answer? Chances are you've already visited Google at least once today. But is your reliance on Google affecting how you acquire and retain information?

The pharmaceutical industry has been successful at convincing us that illnesses such as depression and anxiety--not to mention normal human emotions such as sadness, shyness, and stress--can be alleviated with a pill. New studies are asking important questions about the effectiveness of psychoactive drugs and the conclusions drawn may surprise you.

Most therapists will go into their own therapy at some point in their career. The experience of being "on the couch" can be every bit, if not more, valuable than any psychotherapy textbook or graduate class. Here's why...

These days the Internet offers therapists unlimited amounts of information on their patients. But is it okay for therapists to google their patients? Such ethical questions are becoming more common as psychologists embrace the "Brave New World" of social media.

May is National Mental Health Month. So, what is the status of mental health in the US? Answer: not good. A recent government study indicates 1 in 5 American adults suffer from some form of mental illness, and many are going untreated.

Satoshi Kanazawa's recent post on female beauty has caused a firestorm of controversy on the Internet. Psychology Today has yet to issue a public statement. In remaining silent, the magazine is missing an important opportunity to take a stand against racism and the poor science created to perpetuate it.

Franz Kafka's contribution to society may not be strictly literary. According to recent research, those who read Kafka were shown to have a greater capacity to perform novel tasks. Such findings may have important implications for how we derive meaning in a world that often appears meaningless.